Last week, the Internet lit up like hellfire when The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that not only was the on-again/off-again comic book masterpiece "Preacher" once again headed for the silver screen -- this time with Columbia Pictures obtaining the rights -- but Sam Mendes was also attached to direct. And while it still looks as though "Preacher" itself is still headed for development, the news about Mendes was just a bit off.

In a sit-down with Empire magazine that hit the 'Net this morning, Mendes cleared up some of the rumors surrounding his attachment to "Preacher."

"I’d love to make Preacher, but there’s no script," said Mendes. "This is a typical Variety announcement. 'Mendes to direct Preacher' – I wish! Basically they should have written, 'Mendes in development with 'Preacher.'' What I’m doing is, I’ve gotta find a script. I’ve just got to get it written.”

So for now, "Preacher" fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the property -- which has bounced from studio to studio over the past few years of development hell -- will at least continue to move forward at Columbia, and that Mendes is still very interested in the project, despite the epic scope of the source material.

"It's brilliant, it's an incredible twisted vision," he said. "There's so much of it you couldn't possibly fit it all into one movie. It's just about what you keep and what you leave out, and how you structure the story. But just to have that toy set again, being able to paint on a big canvas and to say ‘I am gonna do crazy crane shots and massive action sequences again because I want to,’ it's exciting."

Looks like we dodged a bullet, fellow "Preacher" fans. Happy to hear Mendes is still interested in taking on Jesse Custer and his crew? Chat it up in the comments.

Cover Artist

Splash Page welcomes Ed Tadem to our cover artist family (our custom-designed theme up top). Currently working on the forthcoming "Avengers" animated series, Tadem's work can also be seen in the "Jackie Karma" issues of Image's "'76," and in "Pop Gun, Volume 1." Ed Tadem can be found online at EdTadem.com.